


Reaching Out to Touch A Stranger

by honeysucklepink



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Soulmates with a third wheel twist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2018-07-23 01:22:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7461066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeysucklepink/pseuds/honeysucklepink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There have always been soulmates in the universe. Only recently have we discovered that for two soulmates to connect, a third person with "The Gift" helps to make the connection. We call them "conduits," and Mercedes Jones is one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mercedes

**Author's Note:**

> I plan to flesh this out into a full-on fic with Samcedes endgame. I need to work on the world-building a bit (how did Conduits get discovered? What was the world reaction? Can conduits also have soulmates?), but I hope I can give you a great story with a bit of magic! And I will take prompts!

Mercedes Jones didn’t know she had The Gift, at first.

And yes, it was capitalized just like that: “The Gift.” Soulmates had been around since time immemorial, but no one ever really understood how two soulmates were paired up. Whether it was genetics, a spirit bond from birth, a product of environment, evolution, or some other hitherto unknown cause, it seemed that the mystery would go on unsolved.

Turned out, while everyone was obsessed with the idea of two soulmates coming together, there was a third in the equation…the Conduit.

Human conduits, much like their physical engineering counterparts, served as channels through which something was allowed to flow through. In the case of engineering the something would be water, wires, cables. In the human case, a conduit was a person through which a soulmate connection was established. 

It didn’t mean that two people touched consecutively would be soulmates…it didn’t work like a Cupid with an errant arrow. But once a conduit touched a person and felt a common connection, they would be inextricably and without warning or reason, be drawn to that person’s match, touch them…and voila, the soulmates would be matched.

The first time Mercedes experienced it, was at her older brother’s birthday party, when she hugged her Aunt Ruby hello. Ruby had lost her husband of eight years to cancer, but it had been over a year since the funeral, and with two young children she was struggling, but still could find joy in just about everything. Mercedes couldn’t tell you why she did what she did next. All she knows is that the next person she went to was the DJ hired for the party; she tapped him on the shoulder and requested a song. She doesn’t even remember what song, or whether he and Ruby even spoke at the party.

Six months later, Ruby and the DJ, whose name was Levon, were married. How could Mercedes have known that he had recently signed up for eHarmony, only to cancel his membership the moment he met Ruby? The couple’s first dance was to Al Green’s “Love and Happiness” ("huh,  _ that’s _ the song I requested," Mercedes recalled).

But still, Mercedes was sure it was a coincidence. Until it happened again. And it didn’t even dawn on her for the longest time that she had met Kurt’s new friend before. All she had heard was “Blaine said the funniest thing” and “You should have seen Blaine stand up to Karofsky” and Blaine this and Blaine that and blah blah blah… (so she was a little jealous someone else was usurping her role as Kurt Hummel's BFF, she's human, okay?).

And then Kurt invited her out to Breadstix with himself and Blaine. And she suddenly flashed back to an evening at the Lima Bean, early in their friendship, when she pinched Kurt’s cheek and felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness…and then sensed the same loneliness in another boy, wearing a prep school blazer and standing next to the sweeteners.


	2. Sam

When Sam Evans found out he was a Conduit, you could have told him he was also a Jedi Knight, or one of the five Istari, and he wouldn’t be nearly as excited. It was practically like being a Na’vi and having  _ tsaheylu,  _ which if you asked Sam would have been a way cooler name for it than the bland and boring “The Gift.”

Sam’s ability manifested in him from a very early age. His first connection was at the budding age of four, when his mother came to pick him up from church daycare. Sam was a little too rambunctious to sit through the full sermon so his parents thought it best to keep him in “kid’s church” for another year. He was so fully immersed playing with an ancient Fisher-Price Little People “Noah’s Ark” playset that he didn’t notice his mother come in, so Miss Grace-Ann had to get his attention.

“Sammy? Your mama is here to take you home,” she said, as she took his right hand and walked him to the nursery door. Sam was too young to comprehend what he felt from Miss Grace-Ann when his little fist was enveloped by her slightly cool fingers, but whatever it was, he felt like he had to protect it with everything in his mighty little body. He kept that right hand squeezed tight and pressed to his chest, offering his left hand to his mama instead as they walked to the car where his dad was waiting to drive them to lunch.

When they arrived at the buffet restaurant where they traditionally had their post-church lunch there was already a crowd; Sam knew there would probably be out of chicken tenders (his favorite), but he ran ahead of his parents anyway and grabbed a plate with his left hand, and then he remembered…his right hand. He had to be careful, he couldn’t just rub that precious connection on a set of tongs picking up a cornbread muffin. What should he do? Ask Mama to get his plate for him? But no, he was a big boy and had been able to get his own plate for a few months now. And she would ask about his hand and want to look at it and he just  _ couldn’t _ .

It was then that he saw a burly-but-sweet-looking young man walk out of the kitchen and up to the buffet with a fresh tray of fried chicken tenders. Some unexplainable force drew Sam to the man, something more than a desire for chicken, and yet he suddenly released his fist and reached for one of the tenders…

“Whoa there!” the man said, grabbing Sam’s right hand. “Those tenders are hot, you don’t want to burn yourself!”

“Sorry,” Sam responded on autopilot.

“Here,” the man said, letting go of his hand and taking a pair of tongs, picking up three chicken tenders in one go. “Hold out your plate, buddy.” Sam did and the man plopped the tenders on his plate. “There you go,” he laughed, ruffling Sam’s hair. 

Sam went around the rest of the buffet, his right hand all but forgotten as he scooped up macaroni and cheese and a cornbread muffin and then went back to the table his parents saved (and then went back to the buffet for green beans after his mama said “I don’t see any green on that plate, Samuel Evans”). 

He hardly thought about that strange feeling he had that Sunday at all, not until a year later, when a new teacher was at the church daycare, and Mama read aloud the notice in the church bulletin about Miss Grace-Ann getting married and how her new husband had just been promoted to manager at the Golden Corral.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Golden Corral" is a chain of buffet-style restaurants...hope you made the connection between Miss Grace-Ann and the guy from the buffet!


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm baaaaaaaack!
> 
> YES, for those of you who have requested more or even subscribed, I finally have a plan, and it starts with this chapter, which actually takes place BEFORE Kurt and Blaine meet (glanced at in the first chapter, but YES it will be revisited!). This is Samcedes endgame, hewing closely to canon. If you are following the Glee re-watch on the "To Daydream Believers" Tumblr, and it is November 15, 2017, then you might laugh at the coincidence that we start our story with "Duet!" Quick change from canon; Puck's juvie stint isn't here (in my mind it was at the start of school). The chapters will vary in length, and this ones short, but I hope you'll stick to the end!

The start of junior year at McKinley High was predictable; with their loss at Regionals, New Directions was once again at the bottom of the food chain. Mercedes considered herself lucky she’d only been slushied twice. She was more worried about Kurt; one of the jocks had taken particular delight in torturing him specifically, and after his dad’s health issues and subsequent clash with his friends over religion, he seemed to be sinking into a deeper depression and distancing himself from the group.

Filing into the choir room a few weeks into the school year, they all noticed a somewhat-new face. 

“Isn’t that the new quarterback?” Kurt whispered to Mercedes. “The one that got injured?”

Mercedes didn’t recognize him out of his helmet, but humored Kurt. “I think so, why?”

“He’s totally Team Gay. No straight boy does his hair like Linda Evangelista, circa 1993.”

“You’re crazy, circa 2010. Didn’t you learn your lesson with Finn?”

“Mercedes, I promise, no shenanigans. I’ll just ask, and if he says no I’ll...accept that.” Kurt looked away and went to his chair. Mercedes followed to sit next to him; she knew exactly what it felt like to be surrounded by friends and still feel alone.

Meanwhile, Mr. Schuester motioned for everyone to settle down. “Guys, as you know, we still need twelve members to compete. I know we were disappointed to lose Sunshine…”

“No thanks to Rachel,” Tina muttered.

Mr. Schuester pushed on, ignoring Tina’s comment. “...but as they say, when a door closes, a window opens. I’d like to welcome Sam Evans to the choir room! Sam, why don’t you tell us a little about yourself?”

The newcomer stepped to the center of the room, wiping his hands on his jeans as if a little nervous. 

“Hi, I’m Sam. Sam-I-Am. Um, and I don’t like green eggs and ham.”

“Oh, wow,” Santana murmured. “He has no game.” Mercedes thought he was actually pretty cute. 

“My family moved here from Tennessee for work. I love comic books and superheroes. Um, you probably know I used to play football, before I broke my collarbone.” Mercedes noticed Finn look down; she imagined he felt bad that it was the reason he was the new starter. “Oh yeah, and, uh, I’m a conduit!”

Finn looked confused, as did half the room. Mercedes thought her heart would hit the floor. Puck spoke first. “I’m sorry, a what-now?”

“I have ‘The Gift,’ as they say. I can match soulmates! I mean I’ve only matched two, and I think the last one may have been a coincidence, but the first one definitely not.”

“Um,  _ freak _ ,” Santana mumbled as she rolled her eyes.

Mr. Schuester gave Santana a look of warning, then returned his attention to the latest recruit. “So Sam, what audition song do you have for us?”

“I actually put together something with a couple of the guys, if that’s okay.” He motioned for Puck and Artie to join him at the front of the class; once he and Puck had their guitars adjusted, they went into a rendition of Bruno Mars’ “Billionaire.” 

Mercedes looked over and saw Quinn drooling over Sam. Damn. Of course the hot blonde cheerleader would have a better chance with the hot blond (former) quarterback. She put it out of her mind and brought her focus back to Sam. He  _ was _ super cute, if not a little geeky for a jock. But the conduit thing threw her off. The whole thing with her Aunt Ruby and Step-uncle Levon led her to doing her own research years ago - mostly message boards and conspiracy sites (the type that believed the moon landing was fake, etc.), but everyone that discussed it online had the same experience; touching someone, feeling a connection, being inextricably pulled to touch someone else, and next thing you knew, those two people would end up together. Many had also experienced a flashback to the connection moment, similar to what Mercedes had felt. 

But nothing had happened since then; maybe her aunt and uncle really had just been a coincidence? Still, if she  _ was _ a conduit, she was the only one of her kind she’d ever heard of in Lima. Or at least  _ had _ been, if this Sam kid was serious about being a conduit. She glanced at Kurt; maybe if she wasn’t the only conduit in Lima, then Kurt wasn’t the only gay kid. She couldn’t help worrying about him, going all through high school without a single date, or even just having someone who could say “I know exactly how you feel.” 

As Sam and the others finished to applause, Mr. Schuester shook his hand. “Sam, I think it’s safe to say, welcome to New Directions! Find a seat and we’ll start the lesson for the week. Duets!”

Everyone groaned except Sam; Mercedes was sure he didn’t know the lesson was a retread of last year. At least Schue sweetened the pot with a free dinner at Breadstix.


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We revisit Mercedes making the Klaine connection, and she goes to the one other conduit she knows for advice...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks always to notarelationship/slayediest for the beta!

Mercedes had to admit she was a little disappointed she and Santana didn’t win the duet competition (though not as much as Santana...girl _really_ loved breadsticks). Sam and Quinn’s performance was really sweet, so when they eventually started dating, Mercedes wasn’t surprised. What _did_ surprise her later that semester was Kurt’s new friend, Blaine.

Puck had sent Kurt to spy on the competition at Dalton Academy, which pissed Mercedes off because _oh my God Puck_ , _just because it was an all-boys school didn’t make it gay_. But when Kurt returned she couldn’t deny he had never looked happier, not even after his dad came out of his coma - he was giggly, he was constantly on his phone texting...and he increasingly cancelled shopping and makeover dates on her. While she was happy that Kurt had finally found someone like him, she couldn’t help but feel left out. She let Kurt know as much and he invited her to Breadstix to meet this new friend that was occupying all of his time.

When they walked into the restaurant and Kurt waved at a boy holding a booth for them, she could hardly believe it. It _couldn’t_ be. But there was no mistaking who she was looking at...the prep school blazer with the embroidered “D” crest, the dark, gelled hair, the bushy triangle-shaped brows framing honey-colored eyes. This was the guy from over a year ago, the one that she had tapped on the shoulder at the Lima Bean, the one that had passed her a handful of Splenda packets. The one that had had an aura of loneliness similar to Kurt’s. That was the only difference between then and now, however...that lonely aura was gone. So was Kurt’s.

But wait...shouldn’t they be dating, then? Kurt said they weren’t, but wasn’t this how it was supposed to work? Wasn’t it supposed to be instant? The more they talked the more she zoned out, trying to figure out what was going on. She also had a hard time keeping up with the topic, which to her, she would later be ashamed to say, just sounded like “ _gay, gay gay gay, gay gay, gay_ ” (and the tiny pink purse in Kurt’s mouth she would later write up to a hallucination brought on by tots withdrawal). Speaking of...she asked the waitress for some tots when she came by. Maybe those would help her concentrate. When they didn’t, she realized she knew someone who might have an idea.

The next day after glee club, she pulled Sam aside. “Hey Sam, got a minute? It’s, um, about Miss Holliday?”

Sam looked over at Quinn. “I’ll catch up with you at your house?”

“Sure, I’ll see you then.” When Quinn was out of earshot, Mercedes motioned Sam to sit; she took the chair next to him.

“So what’s up?”

Mercedes took a fortifying breath. “Okay, first off, it’s not about Holly. It’s your whole um, conduit thing?”

That perked Sam up. “Oh, yeah! Man, I don’t get to talk to a lot of people about it, this is pretty cool! What do you want to know?”

“Well, what’s it like? I mean, for you, like when did it happen?”

“Gosh, I was really young, like, four? It was my Sunday School teacher and the guy that ran the buffet in town. What I really remember is Miss Grace holding my hand, and feeling like she gave me a present? But not like a Transformer or a Mace Windu action figure, though that would have been cool. Just, like the most precious thing to her. Like an heirloom, or this will sound weird, but like a piece of her? And I just knew I had to hold it close and not give it to anyone. But then when we went to lunch after church, I suddenly reached out to grab a chicken tender. How stupid would that be? To give Miss Grace’s most precious thing she trusted me with to a piece of chicken, right?” They both laughed.

Sam turned serious again. “But the thing was, it wasn’t the chicken tender that made me reach out, though don’t get me wrong, at that age I could eat tenders every day. It was the guy that brought them out. That guy was her soulmate. And some weird force made my hand go toward that tray just as her soulmate was there to keep me from getting burned.”

Mercedes couldn’t believe it. “So wait, you knew when you were _four_? How can you even know something like that?”

“I didn’t!  After he grabbed my hand and gave me the chicken tenders I forgot about it. And then Miss Grace left a few months later. I mean, I was really sad at first, but she had gotten married and her new husband had a new job out of town, so I had to be happy for her right? I didn’t see her again until the Christmas after. She and her husband had come home for the holidays and were at the Christmas Eve candlelight service. I had never met him, but he turned around, and wouldn’t you know it was the chicken tenders guy! I was five by then, and I had a clear memory of my teacher and that gift in my hand, and the buffet, and _everything_. And she was super-pregnant, by the way, and glowing. And it wasn’t just all the candles, or the whole pregnant thing? They _both_ had the glow. And that’s when I realized _I did that._ ”

“Of course I didn’t know all the details about what _it_ actually _was_ until years later. And it took me making another connection for it to happen. It was the owner of the pawn shop where I bought my guitar and a woman who was pawning her old jewelry after her husband died. That was a lot more immediate, and then I knew it wasn’t just fate. I looked up everything I could on soulmate connections and found out about conduits, and it all made sense.” Mercedes just nodded. “I guess now I should ask you...why are you curious about The Gift?”

Mercedes shifted in her chair and scratched the back of her neck, which was starting to sweat. “So before I tell you this, I don’t want you jumping to conclusions or anything like that. I...um, damn this is hard to admit, I mean how can I be sure I had anything to do with it?”

“To do with what, Mercedes?”

“Um…” She decided to let it all out in one breath. “ImightbeKurtandBlainesconduit?”

“ _What_?” Sam jumped up. “Mercedes that’s incredible--”

Mercedes pulled Sam down by his arm. “What did I just say about jumping to conclusions and you go and LITERALLY jump? Quiet down!”

Sam sat down and lowered his voice, though one could tell it was a struggle for him. “But that’s amazing, you have The Gift! And I have to admit I wasn’t sure it worked for gay dudes, but it totally does, so that’s even more special! But wait, why do you seem upset by it? Wait, it’s not _because_ they’re gay is it?”

“ _No_ , Sam, oh my God of course not! There may be churches that have a problem with it but we have both read the Bible and know what it says _and_ doesn’t say. I can’t _believe_ you…”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Sam held his hands up in contrition, knowing he had struck a nerve. “I just can’t understand, why is having _tsaheylu_ weirding you out?”

“First off, Quinn told you to stop talking like an Avatar, and now _I’m_ telling you. Second, they aren’t even dating right now, they’re just hanging out a lot, so I don’t even know if they’re soulmates or not.”

“Wait, back up. So you _think_ you made a connection?”

“Well you see, I met Blaine before, way before Kurt did. I didn’t know who he was at the time, I just asked him for something at the Lima Bean. And it was the same thing; I touched Kurt, and he was lonely, and then I tapped Blaine on the shoulder, and _he_ was lonely. And then a year later Kurt went to spy on Dalton, and _that’s_ when they met. And when I met Blaine today…”

“Did you have this weird deja vu feeling?”

“Yeah! And it was also just the way they were with each other. I mean they _say_ they aren’t dating.”

“Mm-hmm. Tell me, were they glowing?”

“I don’t think so? I mean not literally, but maybe metaphorically? I just know they don’t give off that lonely feeling they did before.”

“Well, it could be simply be a matter of two gay guys that thought they were the only gay guys and it turns out they aren’t. I mean I know Kurt probably wished I was, and honestly part of me wishes I _had_ been, just so he wouldn’t feel so alone, you know? But I don’t think Quinn would be keen on sharing.”

“Probably not,” Mercedes said. And how sweet was that, that Sam, who for all intents and purposes was straight, wouldn’t mind being gay or bi just so Kurt wouldn’t be alone? Damn it was hard not to have a crush on the guy. “There’s something else though, besides Kurt and Blaine. I mean I honestly would have written them off as a coincidence except…”

It was as if he could read her mind. “It happened before, didn’t it?” Mercedes just nodded. “Who was it?”

“My aunt and uncle...well, step-uncle. I had the same weird feelings I did with Kurt. But Aunt Ruby _did_ marry the guy.”

“And I’ll bet you anything the same thing will happen to Kurt and this Blaine guy. You’ve got The Gift, Cedes, I know it. In fact I’ll bet by...let’s say Regionals, they’ll be a couple.”

“Throw in dinner at Breadstix, and I’ll take that bet! I mean, if Quinn doesn’t mind.”

“I don’t think she’ll mind. She actually said you were a good friend to her last year,” Sam said. They got up to leave the choir room. “And hey, I’m here if you ever want to talk about The Gift more.”

They parted in the hallway, and Mercedes was happy to know that neither she nor Kurt were alone anymore.


End file.
